Entice - By Ella Frank Page 0,9

starring Dr. Roger McKinney and Dr. Shelly Monroe.

She watched as he pushed away from the doorframe, walking into her office. At five-feet-six, he wasn’t a tall man by any means, and Shelly knew that in a good pair of heels she was most definitely taller than her boss. As casually as he could, he moved around the chair opposite her desk and took a seat. He crossed his legs and smiled at her, and Shelly noticed for the first time his mustache was gone—an improvement by any standards but still by no means someone she envisioned herself dating.

Shelly sat silently, hoping whatever was about to come out of his mouth was work-related.

“Are you finished for the night?” he finally questioned.

That did not sound promising, she thought as she turned to face him directly. Nodding, she forced a full smile and held up a yellow memo note, waving it back and forth.

“Just going through my messages before heading out.”

“Great, great,” he said, placing his hands on his knees.

Please don’t ask me, please don’t—

“So, I was wondering if you’d like to grab a drink with me tonight.”

Annd he did, Shelly groaned internally.

No matter how many times she said no, he kept coming back. It was getting to the point where she was running out of creative and polite ways to refuse a drink with this man. Wincing, she reached into her pocket and pulled out the note from her father.

“I’m sorry. Dad called to tell me he was coming into town, so I really need to get home.”

Liar, liar, pants on fire.

“Oh. Oh, okay,” he stuttered as he stood and brushed his hands over some imaginary lint on his lab coat. He then quickly put his hands back in his lab coat pockets and nodded. “Maybe some other time. Be sure to say hello to Dr. Monroe for me.”

Shelly forced a grin onto her face, refusing to be mean or rude, and nodded once. “Will do.”

Sitting in her chair gripping a yellow piece of paper, she watched as her boss left. She hated the fact that her father had just inadvertently saved her.

Oh, my father would love Dr. Roger McKinney, Hospital Administrator. Even though her father was forever telling her she made bad choices in her relationships, he’d think McKinney was the perfect man to settle down with.

Dr. Lawrence Monroe was convinced his daughter would end up with someone she would have to support for the rest of her life, and Shelly was determined to prove him wrong. That’s why it was such a shame that McKinney was about as appealing as a root canal. It wasn’t his fault he didn’t flip her switch, but…well, he just didn’t.

Sighing, Shelly bent down to pick up her purse and looked at the other piece of yellow paper.

Paul Worthington. Lawyer, self-made man, educated, smart—maybe he was worth another shot. After all, what do I have to lose?

***

On Tuesday morning, Josh pushed through the front doors of Exquisite with the blueprints for the building next door and a tray holding four coffees plus a bag of doughnuts. As the front doors closed behind him, he saw Lena look up from the table she was sitting at.

He smiled and made his way over to her. She had some kind of account book with columns and numbers running up and down the pages open in front of her.

Numbers—I hate crunching numbers.

Lowering his knees a little, he dumped the bag on the table as she stood and reached for the tray.

Smiling up at him, she whispered, “What’s in the bag?”

Looking around the empty dining room, Josh answered in a conspiratorial whisper, “Doughnuts. Why?”

Lena shook her head from side to side. “Have you ever been around Rachel when she’s seen store-bought doughnuts?”

Josh felt a huge smile spread across his mouth as he placed the rolled-up prints on the table behind him. Pulling a chair out, he sat down and shook his head.

“Nope. But if it’s anything like the time she was caught looking at Mason’s porn magazine collection, I have a feeling I’m in trouble.”

Lena’s mouth fell open, and he wasn’t sure if she was shocked at what Rachel had been caught doing or the fact that the magazines had belonged to Mason. She quickly seemed to regain her composure though as she leaned forward.

“Really?” she asked, grinning at him in a way that let him know she was cooking up some way to use this new information.

“Really. He hid them in his closet in a shoebox.”

“How original,” she muttered.

Laughing,